An 8-year-old Michigan girl was not allowed to take school pictures because her hair was in violation of her school’s dress code. Marian Scott, a third-grader attending Paragon Charter Academy, arrived on school picture day with red braids. According to Paragon Charter Academy’s handbook, hair color must be in “natural tones” to have school photo’s taken. The dress code goes on to further state that hairstyles must be “conservative” and that “extreme hairstyles” aren’t permitted.
The school sent out a recorded message to parents on the Sunday prior to photo day to further remind them of the school’s dress code policy. When Marian arrived at school, she was told she was in violation of the policy and sent back to class.
Marian’s father Doug Scott is upset about the situation, “If they would have reached out to us and said… she’s got a hair issue, we need you to change it, that’s not allowed, I would have been fine with why this happened, but they didn’t reach out,” Scott told local affiliate WILX.
Scott claims he didn’t receive the Sunday night reminder message and doesn’t understand why his daughter was allowed to go back to class without her parents being notified about the violation.
Paragon Academy responded regarding the incident telling NBC, “We take great care to ensure our families are well-informed about this policy, and also work closely with students and their parents if there’s a concern.”
The school also confirmed their dress code policy and explained Marian was allowed to return to class because students with hairstyle violations are given a week in which to correct them.